The Pact
I release my hold to the bowstring, letting the arrow fly straight to the poor bunny's eyes. A second later it stops and falls to the ground. Another perfect shot. I reach on two more arrows, aiming the to the sky and two birds are joining the bunny. I pick my arrows, sighing when I see one of them is bent beyond repair, and gather my accomplishment into my game bag. A whistling sound calls me.
Gale's already sit on our favorite place. His eyes close, sipping the water slowly. Noticing my presence, he points to a heap of animals near him. "Just checking the snares. Quite a haul today,"he smiles proudly. I can feel the gleam in my eyes when I add my own hunts to the stack, counting the money we'll get today. It's our favorite season, spring, and our luck has been soaring for the past two weeks.
It has been almost a year since I meet the boy with the snares. Gale, his name that I learnt later, two years above me, has become my best friend and hunting partner despite the odds of our first encounter. Apparently his father also died in the same accident as my father. Beginning with a truce, we teach each other our skills, and that helps our families immensely. Two is better than one, and with Gale, we're the best hunters from Seam.
I entangled the snares while he rests. I'm much better with trappings now, though still a long way to go to keep up with Gale. On the other hand, Gale's archery is getting better from day to day. Better than most people, but I'm proud enough that it still can't match my affinity with bow and arrows.
Flowers are beginning to bloom, and soon there are plentiful harvests. It's a paradise, at least for a few weeks until reality crashes on us. I'd like to spend time hunting with Gale, being myself here in the woods, before the mere remembrance of the Reaping Day haunts me again.
I have Prim and my mother. He has his mother, two brothers and a sister. We're responsible for our families' welfare. It's getting difficult from day to day since we're also still in our reaping age. Both of us take tessera for our entire family, barring our siblings from doing so themselves. It'd be only a matter of time until one of us is unfortunate enough to be called.
With more family members than me, I know he's been playing with his luck, escaping the reaping for almost five years. To us, the topic of Hunger Games is taboo at home, to protect our siblings from fear, and taboo in the woods for being being funkiller. We'd mention in every now and then in our rantings about the Capitol, usually started by Gale who's never afraid to show his rage to them, but we always talk about it as if it has nothing to do with us. We cover our fears, as if not mentioning it will help us from the reaping.
The days are marching on and we know with our names begin piling the Reaping glass bowl each year to on, we can no longer feigning ignorance or simply cross the subject they way we are. Sooner or later we'll need to get this sorted, and I'd prefer sooner. Gale too, is weighing this and let out a sigh. He knows as well as me that there's no use to act like we're gonna get the odds in our favor all the time.
"Then, if either one of us is reaped,"he begins, avoiding his eyes from me. I'm slightly thankful that he initiates the conversation. I wouldn't know what to say.
"The other one must step in to take care of the family,"I finish. The wind seems to stop around us. This is not easy. We must deal with the possible loss, and feed extra mouths alone. Even with us hunting together, there are still bad days where we don't have enough game to eat anywhere near decently.
"And whoever reaped should win the game by all means,"he adds, rather fiercely. That's a sound condition. We know each other for barely a year, yet we know that the fact that we're both alive until now is thanks to our fateful encounter. Hunting aside, Gale's the best friend one could ask for.
Glad that we can force this out, we continue to skin today's game, tossing aside some valuable pelts to wash at the lake later. I'm about to clean my knife when Gale looks at me again.
"What?" My uneasiness creeps again. During the course of the year I've known Gale more than anyone I could think of. That look is reserved to times where we're locked inside the woods, seasons where our preys are hard to find, and else, none of them particularly pleasant. But he is dead serious now.
"I think we forget the other condition."
"What? Gale, I'm not in the mood of playing mind game now. I think we've it settled?"
I cast him a glance, trying to shot him sour look. Bad move. Suddenly I know what he's thinking of and I shudder. "No, Gale. It's-It's not possible. Right?" hearing my sound isn't entirely convincing.
"Why not, Katniss? We've seen worse." Siblings, families, lovers, the Reaping know no bonds. He's not being unreasonable. I still have five years to come and he has three. With us taking tessera, it's very likely one day the odds will turn out in our favor. We being chosen together.
If I really should fight 22 opponents to death, I'd like having Gale by my side. But that'll not do if only one of us can come alive.
"Should we really talk about this?" I plead, hoping that he'll dismiss the idea before my stomach churn even more. I'm being unreasonable. We both know that none in our families have a knack in survival. He failed as bad with Rory as I was with Prim. Rory's a boy, so blood doesn't scare him. But Gale could never get him further than a few basics. He's clumsy with snares and hopeless when it comes to archery. At that time it was amusing. Now it scares us to wits. If we're gone, who will ensure them getting enough food?
"I teach Prim about edible plants. She can forage, but we can't harvest everyday."
"Can we ask Greasy Sae to watch on them? Or someone else?"
Greasy Sae has her own business to manage. She'll help in the trade, but I doubt she can help us find more food. "Madge?" I say hopefully. She's not so bad for citizen of upper part of the town. Surely having one year of freedom will be enough to motivate her to take care of our families. Maybe. Perhaps. I'm betting too much.
"Guess that can be set aside until needed. People are lot more sympathetic when we're reaped. Maybe we can move some of them to keep our families full."
That left us with the dreaded question. "What'll we do in the arena?" I can't imagine myself fighting Gale, let alone killing him. If I'm thrown into the arena myself, I'm sure I can keep myself strong enough to survive. Killing people isn't something I want to do, but will do if needed.
We fall into silent conversation. It's a topic too bloodcurdling to talk out loud, because if we do it the words will come out as if they're true, already happening, or will eventually happen. I refuse to partake in such talk. So instead we stare at each other.
One of us must come home.
I don't want to kill you.
Me too. But we can't both die together no matter how tempting it seems.
It's either coming home together or only one survives. Someone must bring back the glory of a Victor.
One of us must win.
We'll go, back to back, we're invicible. We can do it. When it comes to only the two of us then...
We break the eye contact. It's too much to bear. I really hate the silent understanding sometimes. That's when we look at the familiar blackberry bush in front of us. The one which fruits are our favorite delicacy. That's the answer we need. I turn to Gale who is smirking, thinking the exact replica of my mind. "Poison. I think that stinky Capitol would better off with two victors than none." We laugh bitterly.
Even if that fails, whoever coming home should take in the other's family, and would never bury resentment to the other. We both value our families more than our lives. If Gale is reaped...I wonder if I can bear with another loss. Will I be able to live on if Gale joins my father in my nightmares? Denial overtakes my thoughts. That he'll win. He'll surely win and come back, any loss would be temporary and he's strong enough to be the Victor.
When we reach that point, both of us agree that that's the end of our discussion. My heart feels lighter in the knowledge that at least if I'm going to be taken to the Capitol, my family won't starve to death. That'll ease my mind for the upcoming day.
But I'm not reaped that year. And not in the next year. So does Gale. Three years after the pact, Gale's at his last year and I'm standing here, volunteering for Prim. I look into his eyes, beyond his calm charade and expressionless mask, affirming that he'll hold his end of promise. And I'm going to keep mine.
I'll come out the Victor.
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A/N: Anyone agrees with me that Gale and Katniss fighting together in the Games would make a badass team? My first finished fic for Hunger Games(all properties aside of the title and the story are Suzanne Collins')